Editor,

I am writing in regard to Janis Reid’s article about the budget for an increased number of EA-18G aircraft. She reported: “If the proposed budget passes through the U.S. Senate, the number of total Growlers purchased by Congress would grow from the current 135 to 150, with a price tag of $1.46 million.” Don’t you mean $1.46 billion with a “B” for the 15 extra jets?

Speaking of fact checks, Mike Van Voorst’s letter to the editor is absolutely correct in his statement that 111 decibels creates hearing loss after 1.5 minutes. He argues that since a jet passes a given point in much less time than 1.5 minutes, the Growlers are not a health hazard.

But what if the decibel level is a session average of 128dB in Admiral’s Cove and the Field Carrier Landing Practice session at Outlying Field lasts 30 minutes? And what if the 30-minute sessions recur eight times between noon and midnight?

The 128dB average OLF session level is a measured fact from independent acoustical engineers taken from the two-week onslaught in May of 2013. By the way, the decibel scale is logarithmic, meaning sound levels double for each 10dB increase.

The Navy has made some changes since then in the way the OLF is used. In May 2013 there were five or six jets in the pattern with one passing a given point every 60 seconds. Now, the Navy has at most three jets in the OLF pattern at a given time. They persist in flying till midnight.

The Navy is also using the one pattern approaching the field from the south over Admirals Cove 95 percent of the time. This concentrates the noise impact to homeowners near the OLF, along Fort Casey Road, Rhododendron Park and Admiral’s Cove. They Navy has not agreed in writing to any limits to the number of jets in the pattern, which pattern they use, the number of sessions or limiting the hours of OLF use to end before 10 p.m.

In May 2013, the Navy demonstrated its utter disdain for citizens near the OLF and is now being forced to pass a long-overdue Environmental Impact Statement. It continues to resist any set limits to FCLP or moving them to a sparsely populated area.

FCLP is less than 10 percent of the training but is at the center of this controversy, and the noise signature of the EA-18G makes passing an EIS problematic at best. It is little wonder that the Navy keeps pushing the EIS into the future.

Stephen Swanson, M.D.

Coupeville